Community- Columbia, SCAgency- Dept of Health and human Services I will attach the Unit 2 assignment paperThis is a 500–750 word narrative paper supported with reputable sources that describe the human services organization you work for, or would like to work for as a human services leader, in the community identified in the assignment in Unit 2. While you understand your role and function within the agency, a human services leader needs to extend that context of practice to understanding the organization within the community. The organization was started and continues to serve the community for a reason. The paper explores the reason and the relation of the organization and the community over time.As you gather the content for this paper, consider these questions:How does the organization fit into the community?What is its mission and services?How does it fit into the network of services?What is its history with the community and specific groups?How does it involve the community in decisions—board, advisory council, other?What types of outreach does it do?What is available on its Web site?Note: Integrate these ideas into a cohesive narrative. Refrain from answering the questions like a take-home exam.
allen.april.unit2a01.10.20.19.docx
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Running Head: THE COLUMBIA, SC COMMUNITY
April Allen
Capella University HMSV8406
10/20/2019
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THE COLUMBIA, SC COMMUNITY
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The work of a human service leader can be challenging if an individual; doesn’t take time
to critically understand the environment and the community he is working in. It needs a lot of
effort and research to be able to fit in in a foreign community so that one can be able to effectively
meet the needs of the community members (Clarke, 2019). Columbia, SC, is the community I have
chosen to work with and taken time to understand it broadly. This paper seeks to clearly explain
the context of Columbia, SC, as my practice community.
The original inhabitants of Columbia were Congaree. Columbia was formed in 1786 by the
general assembly of South Carolina and became the center of development of the state. Eventually,
Columbia was chosen to be the capital city of the state due to its strategic position. It was listed to
be a village after its formation, but later alone, it emerged to be on the list of cities in South
Carolina. In 1801, South Carolina University was built in Columbia, thus making it an institutional
center (Lane, 2018). This increased its population because many youths were not moving to
England for further education as it was the norm by then. In the 19th century, there were a lot of
slaves in Columbia, and some resided with their masters.
The government established a ruling that slaves should not be taught how to read and write
so that they could not eventually turn out to be rebellious. This was impossible because the slaves
were determined to be enlightened, and finally, almost all the slaves were literate through the help
of the churches that had started emerging. The slaves were many in Columbia because there was
large scale farming of cotton, and there were suitable means of transport, which was the railway
transport (Clarke, 2019). Towards the end of the civil war, a more significant portion of Columbia
was reduced into ruins by fire when the union troops tried to occupy the city. The union troops
destroyed the Methodist church together with other churches such as Presbyterian and Baptists.
The ruins that were left after the destruction of the town serve as tourists’ attraction today.
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The city was reconstructed, and the fantastic thing is that the residents of the city turned
out to be the former slaves. During the time of reconstruction, Columbia was the center of
attraction, and it attracted tourists and journalists who were curious to visit the ruins and see the
new dwellers of the city (Halberg, 2015). In the 20th century, Columbia became the most prominent
textile manufacturing point in the whole region, and this made Columbia the center of trade with
customers from all over the states. Columbia has really grown, and recently it has become the heart
of art, restaurants, amazing tourists’ destination, and museums.
Columbia was developed along the famous fall line of the Congaree River, which is within
the river’s navigation, thus making it an inland. Columbian’s location is approximately between
the vast mountains known as Blue Ridge and the Atlantic Ocean, but it’s a bit elevated. The soils
in Columbia are loamy covered with sandy topsoil and well-drained, thus comfortably supporting
cotton-growing farms (Lane, 2018). The city covers an area of 349.5KM squared, and 7.0 square
kilometers is water. Large parts of the city are covered by people’s settlements.
From the most recent census practice that took place in Columbia, the results were that
there are 129,272 people in Columbia, and the density of the population was928.6 people within a
square mile. The people living in Columbia are mostly whites and blacks (Halberg, 2015). The
whites take up to 52% of the dwellers while the blacks take approximately 43%; the other 5% is
made up of other races. 50% of the population is nonfamilies, and 23% is made up of children
below the age of 18.
The average income of a family living in the city was $38,590. Around 23% of the total
population was below the line of poverty, which includes people between 24 years and 65 years
and fewer than eighteen. The religion background is basically Christianity mixed with Jews. With
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time the population has decreased due to extreme climatic conditions that have eventually left most
people homeless and properties ruined.
The significant resources in Columbia city are sceneries due to its geographical positioning,
and the city is rich in culture and artwork. The University of South Carolina is still based in the
town, thus making and other colleges that have emerged, thus making the city to be an educational
center. One of the oldest theaters is located in Columbia since 1917, which has helped in the
production of musicals and plays over the years (Clarke, 2019). Other theaters are such as Trustus
theatre, Nickelodeon, the Shakespeare Company in South Carolina, and many other theaters that
have produced outstanding performance and artwork.
The town has great venues where major global meetings and conventions have been held
over the years. It also has great and beautiful sports venues. Columbia also has impressive and
outstanding recreation centers and parks (Halberg, 2015). Some of these parks are such as Finlay
Park, which is the oldest and the largest park occupying 18acres of land and was founded in 1859.
It has many more parks and recreations that attract more tourists from various parts of the world.
Basically, Columbia is a great tourist destination, and most of its revenue comes from the tourism
industry.
The main geographical problem Columbia experiences are extreme weather and climatic
conditions. This is due to its low elevation, which makes it impossible to regulate its summer and
winter temperatures. The city lies at the center of sandhills; thus, its soil it a bit sandy; therefore,
it contains less water that allows the area to be more heated than other cities (Lane, 2018). The
distance that is there between Columbia and the Atlantic Ocean makes it hard for the city to receive
THE COLUMBIA, SC COMMUNITY
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the moderating effects like the other coastal cities. The area is sweltering, and on the other hand,
when it becomes cold or rainy, the weather turns out to be extreme.
The websites have come in handy to inform the outside world on how the climate has
affected Columbia. In times of natural calamities such as extreme weather conditions that lead to
the destruction of the property, leaving people homeless, website owners have mobilized people
globally to help the affected people. Website owners have gone out of their way to conduct
thorough research on how to control or prevent critical damage from the harsh climate, and many
of them have come up with different strategies. (See, Foody, Comber & Liu, 2016).
This media approach can be more effective if the website owners come together and
implement all the strategies and ideas they have towards solving these community needs. On the
other hand, the government can consider applying the ideas and thoughts ideas on websites and
other social media platforms.
The problems come in with the fact that people have a lot of ideas on what can be done to
handle the geographical issues in Columbia, the plans have been aired on websites, but there is no
one to implement (See, Foody, Comber & Liu, 2016). If at all the website owners can find avenues
such as approaching organizations that handle such issues or even consulting the government, then
the use of the website to address such issues would be more effective.
In conclusion, therefore, Columbia is an exquisite land full of precious resources and
history and enjoys moments of political stability (Lane, 2018). Its population is manageable and
has a great potential to bring in more income to the state, but it’s saddening that a large percentage
of its population is below the poverty margin. The only factor that limits this city is the issue on
climatic conditions due to its geographical positioning. As stated in the above discussion, the
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THE COLUMBIA, SC COMMUNITY
website is doing a great job to help in solving or reducing the effects of the harsh climate, but the
implementation of the strategies should be put into consideration.
References
Clarke, E. (2019). To Count Our Days: A History of Columbia Theological Seminary. Univ of
South Carolina Press.
Halberg, K. B. (2015). ” This is a little beauty”: Preserving the legacy of the Columbia
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Cottage (Doctoral dissertation, University of South Carolina).
Lane, L. (2018). Building Columbia (Doctoral dissertation, University of South Carolina).
See, L., Mooney, P., Foody, G., Bastin, L., Comber, A., Estima, J., … & Liu, H. Y. (2016).
Crowdsourcing, citizen science, or volunteered geographic information? The current state
of crowdsourced geographic information. ISPRS International Journal of GeoInformation, 5(5), 55.
…
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